Almost every UT fan I ran Into yesterday

I've heard some stuff about Adams and Carl Lawson. Maybe true, maybe not, though it seemed more than a bit shady the way it went down.

The problem Clemson has is, we can't operate the same way. We're in the ACC, and we do not have a commissioner who was once a lawyer who once specialized in getting programs accused of NCAA infractions out of hot water. (This was what Mike Slive did prior to becoming the SEC's commissioner.) The last time Clemson got in trouble, not only did the ACC not have our back, the conference tacked on an extra year to our probation, bless their Tobacco Road hearts. We have no political cover.

The sad fact remains, the University of South Carolina is probably one of the cleanest programs in the SEC. I'm sure there are boosters who do stuff at street level (there are everywhere, unfortunately), but Spurrier is not, and has never been, in bed with them. Say what you want about Spurrier, he doesn't cheat, never has. The NCAA has never so much as sniffed in his direction; the biggest thing I ever heard about with Spurrier was runners for NFL agents advancing cash to some of his players at UF, which is something that's very hard for a college coach to control. Actually says quite a lot about Spurrier that he's managed to own the SEC as much as he has.

But the SEC very much has their house in order under Mike Slive, and the Phil Fulmer Rule ensures that all parties remain silent.

quozzel

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Tennessee is one of those programs that AD's avoid

Nov 2, 2014, 4:34 PM

The problem with Tennessee is, they're an artificially inflated program that made themselves by poaching out-of-state talent.

Tennessee is a very talent-poor state. It produces less than half the talent of South Carolina annually, which means, if you're going to build a major program there, you have to go outside of Tennessee's borders. And they did. Traditionally they've strip-mined North Carolina (and often, Alabama), but during Phil Fulmer's heydey they were getting - translation, buying - a lot of players from South Carolina as well. The rise of South Carolina, Clemson, Auburn, and Alabama has had a great deal to do with Tennessee's decline; the Vols would like nothing better than to get back into South Carolina again. When we played the then-#6-ranked Vols in the 2003 Peach Bowl (and beat them), they were almost a full "star" ahead of Clemson in average recruiting ranking and they had 10 or so guys - almost all of them high-end from the state of South Carolina.

It's also an interesting but strangely little-known fact that the SEC introduced the so-called "Phil Fulmer Rule" that requires SEC teams aware of other SEC teams' recruiting infractions to report those infractions to the SEC first before ratting them out to the NCAA, which is as close to the Mafia rule of omerta as exists in the NCAA. Fulmer turned in Alabama for paying over $160,000 for 5-star DT Albert Means, which got 'Bama in major NCAA hot water (within an inch of the Death Penalty, actually)...but the reason Fulmer was able to turn in Alabama is because Means' coach had essentially put the player up for auction and Fulmer finished second. (More than a little ironic, Fulmer turning in 'Bama for a crime he himself was trying to commit.)

More recently, Lane Kiffin sent some call girls down to Byrnes to "recruit", which Byrnes did not appreciate. And then there was that incident last year when a recruit who was choosing between Clemson and Tennessee got driven to his declaration presser with an escort of Tennessee state troopers in tow. (Gee, no coercion there, nosirree Bob!)

It might make for some good games, but that's a program we don't want to help, trust me. The Vols have a 110,000-seat stadium, deep pockets, and far bigger ambitions than their own state can support. And Butch Jones is oversigning like crazy and is giving every indicator he's just a whole like like Phil Fulmer in more than one regard....

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Love to get another tombstone off of them. Butch has them on the way up.***

Dobbs, North and Malone look very solid

Errr I think I'm okay without dobbs. I'll take deshaun,

losing Montravius Adams to AU at the la$t $econd hurt way more.***

Re: losing Montravius Adams to AU at the la$t $econd hurt way more.***

Re: losing Montravius Adams to AU at the la$t $econd hurt way more.***

My first college game was at Neyland in '71.

Re: Almost every UT fan I ran Into yesterday

Re: Almost every UT fan I ran Into yesterday

That 3/4 of a seats stadium actually should seat 80K.

Last time we played there, they cheated

It was easier for them to do because few games were

Re: It was easier for them to do because few games were

Re: Last time we played there, they cheated . Never forget that stunt

Much more interesting than Auburn and TAMU again***

I agree! Much rather play Tenn or Florida. No more AM or AU***

UT has been a sleeping giant for some time. They have

Re: Almost every UT fan I ran Into yesterday

Our academics and ethics are too good for the SEC.***

Re: Almost every UT fan I ran Into yesterday

Tennessee is one of those programs that AD's avoid

Re: Tennessee is one of those programs that AD's avoid

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